Bradenton native Larry “Rhino” Reinhardt the guitarist and songwriter who joined Iron Butterfly in 1971 after stints in bands with Dicky Betts and Berry Oakley before they joined The Allman Brothers Band, has reportedly died.

According to friends and family members who posted to Reinhardt’s facebook page, he died at around 6 p.m. on Monday. He was 63.

As everybody knows, nothing of note happens in the last 10 days of the year. That’s the time for tossing wine and beast down the old gullet, typically in celebration of Wine and Beast Day. But, oddly enough, shadowy Manchester-based electronic duo Demdike Stare don’t celebrate Wine and Beast Day. Instead of activities related to wine/beast, Demdike Stare spent their time releasing a new record. Or half of one? Regardless, they did put out Elemental Parts 1 & 2 through Modern Love in late December. The record comes in a particularly fancy quadruple gatefold vinyl package, with a book-style outer shell meant to eventually hold all four parts of Elemental. In addition to all that, the release is limited to 1,000 copies, with each record in the set printed on different-colored vinyl.

For now, though, two spots in Demdike Stare’s book will have to remain empty. While Parts 1 & 2 are out now, Parts 3 & 4 are decidedly not out now. They’re not even coming out until the future! Namely, early 2012, but the exact date is still undecided. If I had to guess, it will be when you least expect it. Once complete, Elemental will consist of the following four multi-track parts: Chyranthe, Violetta, Rose, and Iris.

If all that sounds like too much hassle, don’t worry, there’s an easier solution. Actually, maybe don’t worry anyway, since you’re probably not that big of a Demdike Stare fan. These are guys whose most high-profile release, Tryptych, was a massive 2.5-hour collection of material. These guys are hassle incarnate. But I digress! For those who find the limited-edition vinyl game too trying, Elemental will be released as a double CD later this year. That said, the CD version boasts a different tracklist than the vinyl, along with altered versions of the original tracks. So, if you’re really dedicated to hearing everything Demdike Stare releases, you’ll need to buy two limited-edition vinyl sets and a double CD. Only by looking deep within yourself can you know whether or not it’s truly worth the hassle.

Readers will excuse my ignorance, but flexi discs sound like something that should be featured in a television infomercial: the creepily enthusiastic host dressed in khakis and a shirt with no tie explains to the audience how the commonly-used recording mediums are just too damn (sans explicit language) fragile and prone to ruination. He feels the need to demonstrate this by destroying CDs and traditional vinyl records in a variety of innovative of ways: breaking them in half with his bare hands, running them over with his car, placing them in an oven preheated to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, and so on. Eventually, the host introduces the spotlighted, magnificently indestructible flexi disc — capable of bending as though it were made purely of rubber, and available for purchase at the absurdly low price of $19.95!

But what’s in a name, really? So long as flexi discs faithfully serve the purpose of accurately reproducing the recorded material, the fact that it’s somewhat cheesily-named shouldn’t even matter, and the fact that it’s a relatively obscure medium might even be a point of attraction. Such is undoubtedly what the Indianapolis-based record label Joyful Noise is counting on with the announcement that, for 2012, they’re offering a monthly subscription of “exclusive” flexi disc recordings from 12 different artists, including of Montreal, Tortoise, Akron/Family, Danielson, and Deerhoof. Subscriptions to the series cost $4/month, and each release is limited to 500 copies. Furthermore, every song featured is entirely new, and according to a press release, “will never be released in any other format” — not officially, anyway.

If you’re still wondering what the hell a flexi disc actually is and whether or not your current system has the capacity for playback, check out Joyful Noise’s brief description of the medium on their subscription page. Apparently your standard turntable will do the job just fine.

Late in 2006, a man took pen to scroll and scrawled out, “Fujiya & Miyagi are a band and in about five or six years, they’ll go on tour in the United States.” Remember, this was before the internet was the internet, so everybody was still writing on scrolls. When they weren’t writing on scrolls, they were drawing pictures of tigers. Prove me wrong. Anyway, the guy also wrote some stuff about how Fujiya & Miyagi weren’t actually from Japan and some passing references to Krautrock and stuff like that. But who cares? Dude wrote it on a scroll, and I don’t read anything written on scrolls.

Still, that part about them going on tour in the US still rings pretty true. As predicted, Fujiya & Miyagi are coming to America (like Eddie Murphy!!!!!) in January. They’ll be here for about a couple of weeks, then they’ll get homesick for the grey skies of their native England as soon as February hits. Some say there’s no better time to be in England! Plan a trip now!

Fujiya & Miyagi released a record called Ventrilloquizzing last January. More recently, they put out a single by the title of Ecstatic Dancer, which you can hear by clicking on that very link. That, too, was written on the scroll. Really, this was all in the midst of an intense scroll-writing session, the likes of which has been compared to a fever dream and/or nightmare and/or boring afternoon.

For centuries, comedy and music have gone together like oil and vinegar, and the brilliant combination has opened the doors for such acts as The Darkness, Eddie Murphy, Dane Cook, Machine Gun Kelly, and Fleetwod Mac. Sub Pop is a label that is no stranger to having a few comedians in their lineup, and those dudes at the Sub Pop factory think it’s funny as shit to make these joke-tellers go on tour, opening up for bands.

Eugene Mirman (not to be confused with Donald Merman, the “Mermaid” comedian) is being forced to open for that savvy whistleblower, Andrew Bird, and he may or may not perform some of his famous jokes from Sub Pop albums like God Is a Twelve-Year-Old Boy with Asperger’s (ruh-roh Christian community, that sounds offensive!).

Mirman is best known as the landlord, Eugene, from Flight of the Conchords and the Russian kid, Eugene, from Home Movies who pees in Coach McGuirk’s canteen. My hunch for this specific Mirman tour is that he and Andrew Bird would be more than happy to play a duet rendition of Lou Reed’s “Women” if you shout the request obnoxiously 48 times in a row.

There’s been a lot of different organizations that work toward making Boston a better place. Some make efforts to reduce the city’s crime rates, while some work incessantly to provide care for Boston’s homeless. And then there are some who would just like to see some culture sprout among the congested Irish pubs. Such an organization is Non-Event, an experimental music concert series that has snuck cutting edge music past the city limits of Boston for a decade now.

This year, with the series’ rapid expansion and new venue additions, like any good cause in Boston, Non-Event needs your help with funding, thus a Kickstarter page has emerged. Giving what little you can will help Celtics fans see performances from already-confirmed artists Phill Niblock, Lasse Marhaug, Alvin Curran, Belarisk, C. Spencer Yeh, Greg Kelley, Leif Elggren with C.M. von Hausswolff, and Thomas Köner. Their fundraising deadline is January 18, and all pledges over $5 receive some lovely incentives.